Newsroom
All News Releases By Date
PA FORMER GAS STATION OWNER SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL DUMPING
Release Date: 09/12/97
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1997
FORMER GAS STATION OWNER SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL DUMPING
On Sept. 8, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston ordered Attique Ahmad to serve one year in prison and pay the state of Texas $27,487 in clean up costs for illegally dumping 4,690 gallons of gasoline into the Conroe, Texas storm and sewer systems on Jan. 25, 1994. Ahmad, the former owner of the Spin-N-Market gasoline station in Conroe, pleaded guilty to pumping gasoline into the storm and sewer systems from a leaking underground storage tank which would have required as much as $5,000 in repairs if it had been kept in operation. The gasoline created an imminent danger of explosion and forced the evacuation of children from two schools and the shutdown of the Conroe sewage treatment plant. The spill also contaminated Possum Creek, which empties into Lake Houston, a major source of drinking water for the city of Houston. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and the city of Conroe’s Fire and Public Works Departments with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center.
R-129 # # #
Search this collection of releases | or search all news releases
View selected historical press releases from 1970 to 1998 in the EPA History website.
